chapter 27: trap

Hoa woke up, finding a seemingly sleepy Nico standing over their setup. "Neeks," she said gently, "Go to bed."

He grumbled under his breath. "No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Nico, I finished sleeping already, and you're the one who needs it more. Stop taking care of me. I'm older than you."

He frowned, but relented, even though he was technically chronologically older than her. "Fine."

She gently ruffles his hair, helping him lay down on top of the folded hoodie her head was on earlier. Stretching her neck, she winced. Dang, my neck is dying right now.

Checking her pockets, she found the hairpin and ring that Deimos gave to her. She smiled slightly, grateful that he put in enough effort to get her gifts that she'd like.

She frowned at the reason, though.

Hoa slipped the ring on and made her hair the same as her mother did, sticking the hairpin in. She tested it, shaking her head a bit to see how effective the hairpin really was, but it stayed. She shook it more violently this time, and it didn't budge. "Whoa," she muttered. "Thanks for actually giving me something useful, Deimos."

The ring pulsed, as if Deimos was telling her, you're welcome.

~•~•~

The familiar feel of the Underworld clung to Nico as he turned around, trying to figure out his exact location in his dream. He found himself back in the area where they found his sword, right by the River Styx. A dead landscape for a son of the dead. Nice.

"Son," a voice boomed.

The son of Hades turned around again, facing his dad. "Hello, father. What do you wish for?"

"Such sophisticated words are already coming out of a boy at such a young age. I wanted to check up on you and brace you for what is to come. I assume you know of your past?"

Nico tensed. "Yes, father."

"Good. Onto the next point: that girl you 'maybe even love' is fated to die."

Nico took a sharp breath. His heart dropped in disbelief and sadness. "You can't be serious."

"Unfortunately, I am."

"What did she do to deserve such a fate?"

"All demigods die eventually, Nico, and she has lived far too long."

"Then why haven't I died?" he retorted. "Am I not older than her, chronically?"

Hades sighed. "That daughter of Athena had a prophecy delivered to her. One line states that 'Flower' must have her final stand."

Nico lowered his head. He didn't know what to say anymore, so he just didn't say anything.

"Son," Hades said more calmly, "You can't love someone who is fated to die."

He snapped his eyes up to her father's in frustration. "Then explain how I was born."

He saw Hades gritting his teeth. "Fine. There may be a way, but it's risky."

Nico's eyes lit up with hope. "What is it?"

"Do you know of the 'soul for a soul' exchange?"

~•~•~

Hoa handed him her water bottle after spotting Nico rubbing his eyes, trying to wake himself up. "Here," she muttered.

He took the water, greedily sipping it before his eyes widened. "Hoa, did you purposely give me the last of your water or was that an accident?"

"I didn't need it anyways. Go call your ghost buddy."

"Hoa-"

"Call him. I'll pour the water from the backpack later."

His shoulders slumped. "Fine."

"Thank you."

After summoning Minos, the demigods started to get moving. She'd explained what Deimos gave her along the way, fidgeting with her necklace and ring.

Something didn't feel right, though. Her demigod instincts were coming on a high as they walked, telling her, Stop it! You're gonna die!

"Minos?" she asked, "Is this place safe?"

"It's perfectly fine, I assure you."

Hoa frowned. Something's not right. Minos would always insult her, no matter what. Apparently, today was an exception.

Can we really trust Minos?

"Nico," she whispered. "Can we really trust Minos?"

"Hopefully."

"Neeks, I need a definitive 'yes' or 'no' answer. Something feels off, and I've learned the hard way that my instincts are almost always right."

He shook his head. "Minos?" he called louder. "How much longer?"

"Several hours."

She gave him a look. "See? He didn't address you as anything funny."

"I'm sure it's fine Hoa."

"That's how all the characters get killed!"

"Not us."

The clashing of metal was heard ahead as the demigods and ghost forged onwards.

Minos turned to them. "This is the dangerous part. The Labyrinth will not allow us to go around this part, so we must go through."

"What's there?" Nico asked.

"Some hellhounds." He waved his hand dismissively. "You'll be fine."

"Nico," she whispered. "First of all, he said 'you'll' instead of 'you will'. Second of all, why would hellhounds have metal weapons to use?"

Nico's eyes widened as he saw her point. "Wait-"

"Well, what do we have here?"

An empousa revealed herself, fully cladded in Celestial bronze armor. Two demigods stood by her side, one wearing an eye patch and the other she recognized.

Luke Castellan.

His presence sent chills down her spine, remembering the terrible injury his scorpion gave Percy. When he had brought Percy to the woods with him for some small talk, he had brought a lethal scorpion that was supposed to kill her friend. Her blood had boiled when she saw the state Percy was in-skin pale and seconds from dying.

She had met Luke a few times before his betrayal and made small talk with him, but what he did to Percy was unforgivable. He couldn't be trusted.

"I fucking told you," Hoa hissed. She grabbed her dagger, flipping it around in the air and glaring at Minos. "You lying prick, why the fuck would you-"

"I lie for my own gain, Hoa. Doesn't everyone lie for that very reason?"

"The fuck do you think I just asked?" she screamed. "What do you have to gain? If you stand by the gods, you don't get brutally murdered by the Titans."

"I'm a ghost," he sneered right back. "I can't die."

Hoa continued in a solemn whisper. "You wouldn't kill a son of Hades-" she choked up with tears as she tried not to look at Luke.

The empousa lunged during her moment of weakness, trying to disarm her, but she sidestepped and kicked her metal leg, turning to Luke. Quickly, she sheathed her dagger and brought out her bow and arrow, shooting his chest thrice.

All three of those arrows simply bounced off him like they were made of rubber.

Her eyes widened as the empousa launched at her again, making her stumble back. She put Lightning away as she brought out Fire and Deimos' gift, brandishing one in each hand.

She glanced at Nico and cursed. Although his fight with the eye patch kid was going well, it was going by too slowly. They were going to have reinforcements soon.

In her stupor, the empousa lunged at her yet again. This time she successfully knocked Hoa down as Luke frowned at her.

"I thought Percy would've taught you better. Oh, well."

She gritted her teeth. "Get away from me, you monster."

"On the contrary," he smirked, "I think I should take you back with me, huh? Maybe we can see how valuable you could be to the Titan Army."

"You're terrible!" She trembled, trying to look anywhere but his face. "I'll never work with you, not after what you did to Percy."

Luke growled. "Do you want the same thing to you? Because anything is possible when you're with us-"

"Stop," somebody said.

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hi im madi, your loyal author ♥️

this part is random

anyways

check out muse! its a jax x reader (from tadc--the amazing digital circus) and doesn't have many chapters yet, but still! plsplspls take a look.

and that one murder drones book is (still) popping off.

anyways

how was the chapter?

also, what are some questions of your own?

anyways, tysm for reading this crappy book! 😃